Passes & Canyons Blog

That didn’t take long. One day a bill came up for consideration in the Colorado House that would prohibit businesses from barring bikers from their establishments because they are wearing colors. The next day that bill was killed on a 6-3 vote in the State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee.

The bill, HB 1128, was proposed by Rep. Joe Miklosi, at the urging of constituents who belong to the Veterans of Vietnam America Motorcycle Club. I would assume it also had the support of the Colorado Confederation of Clubs, considering that they are whole-heartedly against businesses that ban erstwhile customers wearing colors. Just an assumption, but I could be wrong.

As an aside, here’s the Biker Friendly Or Not page on the CCC’s website where they list establishments that sit on both sides of that fence.

The vote in this case was not strictly a party-line vote. With five Democrats and four Republicans on the committee, the three who sought to keep the bill alive were all Democrats but two Dems joined with all four Republicans to “postpone the bill indefinitely.”

I have to think this was another situation where the biker community, at least those of the cruiser persuasion, and the Republicans who they generally work in concert with, ran into some friction. They would seem to be opposing views of freedom, i.e., the freedom of business owners to run their businesses as they see fit vs. the freedom of individuals to dress as they choose without fear of retribution.

There was a time years ago when my buddies and I went out to a bar on our bikes and were denied entrance because we were wearing motorcycle jackets. No colors or anything, just jackets. We figured that was pretty absurd. And you can bet we’ve never been back to that bar.

On the other hand, “No shirt, no shoes, no service” is a common sign and people seem to accept that with no argument. So the issue would come down to how you write a law that goes far enough without going too far. You probably can’t, so maybe it’s just best to leave it alone. The government doesn’t need to make the rules on everything.

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Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re becoming addicted to riding when you start putting your gear on in the morning, only to realize you need to take the cage to work . . . but you consider leaving your gear on to make the commute “more motorcycle-ish.”

I’m sure there are others who already knew this, but I just found out yesterday that Freedom Harley-Davidson is no more. Under new ownership, the company is now called Avalanche Harley-Davidson, although at least for the time being the URL for their website is still http://www.freedomh-d.com/.

According to a report in the Denver Business Journal, owner and founder Ken Allen sold the dealership he established at 8000 W. Colfax to Michael Veracka, who is a partner at several other Harley dealerships around the country, including Grand Rapids H-D in Michigan and Rawhide H-D in Olathe, KS.

Although I don’t ride a Harley, my emotional connection to Freedom H-D goes way, way back. About 25 years ago, before I even owned a motorcycle, I was editor of the Sentinel newspapers in the suburbs north of Denver. We were always receiving gifts and various schwag from businesses hoping to get some free publicity out of it. As editor I got to pick and choose what I wanted and would distribute the rest to my staff.

One day a package arrived and it contained a T-shirt from Freedom H-D in connection with a poker run or something else they were sponsoring. I didn’t have a bike but I had always wanted one, ever since I was a kid. And in fact it was just a very short time later that I did buy my first bike, my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom that I still own and ride.

Anyway, I kept that shirt. And I wore it a lot, until it was finally shot full of holes had to go in the rag bag. So I’ve always felt a bit of connection to that dealership that I have never felt to the others.

Now time marches on and there’s a new owner and new name. I just have to wonder, though, why they changed the name. It seems like you’d be hard put to find a better name than Freedom. Just makes me wonder.

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Biker Quote for Today

Hot women come and go, but a beautiful bike stays with you long after you sell it.

For a lot of people, getting into riding motorcycles consists of simply throwing their legs over the bike and riding off. Never mind that that may be just a bit less preparation than would be good, most do eventually figure it out.

Others are a bit more hesitant. They welcome some coaching, and even once they learn to ride they still welcome coaching to move to the next level. That’s where the AMA Conference Tour comes in. Organized by my friend Alisa Clickenger (aka MotoAdventureGal) and her associate, Karen Thomson, this ride is intended to help women riders gain confidence in and learn the ways of motorcycle touring.

I’m interpreting some of this from their website but as I read it, their name for their venture is Women’s Empowerment Motorcycle Tour, and this AMA Conference Tour is one of two they are promoting this year. The other is a 10-day Pacific Northwest Tour. Their first ever event was the original Women’s Empowerment Motorcycle Tour last year. (I’m sure Alisa will clarify this for me if I’ve got it wrong.)

So anyway, this AMA Conference Tour starts out in Denver on July 20 and is a 6-day ride to Carson City, NV, where the American Motorcyclist Association will be hosting the International Women & Motorcycling Conference.

As they note on the site, “Besides the normal tour itinerary and enjoyment, the tour will include pre-trip personal coaching, confidence building exercises, and during-tour seminars to give every rider a toolbox of skills they can rely on when planning or implementing their own future trips.”

Now, there’s no mention of the return trip, so I have the idea that once the riders get the experience going out there they’re going to get to put what they’ve learned into practice immediately getting home on their own.

So hey, great time. Road trip. Just ride the dang thing.

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Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycles make good girls do bad things!